Monza ELMS: Panis Racing beats United for maiden win

The first part of the race was an all-out battle between championship contenders G-Drive Racing, Team WRT and United Autosports with reigning champion Phil Hanson in the sole United car - after a positive COVID-19 test for Job van Uitert forced the withdrawal of the sister #32 machine - taking the lead from the pole-sitting #26 G-Drive car driven by Roman Rusinov just before the first pitstops.

Rusinov's race was compromised when he ran out of fuel following a safety car brought out to recover the #77 WeatherTech Racing Porsche from the Lesmo 2 gravel trap. The 2018 champion would eventually finish one lap down in eighth together with Mikkel Jensen and Franco Colapinto.

Several race interruptions brought other teams in the fray, including the Panis Racing team that had started eighth but moved into second after the first stops with Canal at the wheel.

The lead changed hands during the second round of pitstops when Allen climbed aboard, and the Australian kept United's Jonathan Aberdein at bay before handing over to Stevens for the final stint, the ex-Formula 1 driver able to fend off United’s Tom Gamble for the win.

Behind the guesting JOTA Sport Oreca of Jazeman Jaafar and Sean Gelael - using the event to prepare for next weekend's FIA World Endurance Championship round at Monza - championship leader Team WRT continued its consistent points-scoring run with fourth for Robert Kubica, Louis Deletraz and Yi Yifei.

Almost the entire LMP2 Pro-Am field led at some time or another, but a well-executed strategy and a strong final stint from former F1 Roberto Mehri gave the #25 G-Drive machine he shared with Jon Falb and Rui Andrade class honours in sixth overall.

#65 Panis Racing Oreca 07 - Gibson: Julien Canal, Will Stevens, James Allen

#65 Panis Racing Oreca 07 - Gibson: Julien Canal, Will Stevens, James Allen

Photo by: Paolo Belletti

The LMP3 class provided a vast array of strategies, with the difference between a win and a top ten result often decided by an unlucky full course yellow. The pole-sitting DKR Engineering Duqueine used the final full course yellow of the race, ironically following an incident in which the team itself was involved, to secure a win for Laurens Horr and Matthieu de Barbuat.

The GTE class proved to be an all-Ferrari fight between the Spirit of Race and Iron Lynx teams, who were often only separated by a few tenths of a second.

The battle between Spirit of Race's David Perel and Miguel Molina proved especially riveting, and the South African held firm throughout the final stints to join Duncan Cameron and Alessandro Pier Guidi on the top step of the podium before dedicating the win to absent teammate Matt Griffin, who withdrew from the event following the sudden passing of his father.

Race results:

Cla # Driver Car Gap
1 65 Oreca 07  
2 22 Oreca 07 5.131
3 82 Oreca 07 34.420
4 41 Oreca 07 41.783
5 30 Oreca 07  
6 25 Aurus 01 1 Lap
7 34 Oreca 07 1 Lap
8 26 Aurus 01 1 Lap
9 28 Oreca 07 1 Lap
10 24 Oreca 07 1 Lap
11 29 Oreca 07 1 Lap
12 37 Oreca 07  
13 92 Oreca 07 2 Laps
14 70 Oreca 07 2 Laps
15 17 Oreca 07  
16 39 France Vincent Capillaire
France Maxime Robin
Arnold Robin
Oreca 07 3 Laps
17 21 Oreca 07 3 Laps
18 35 Oreca 07 3 Laps
19 4 Germany Laurents Hörr
Mathieu de
Duqueine M30 - D08  
20 2 United Kingdom Wayne Boyd
Robert Wheldon
Edouard Cauhaupe
Ligier JS P320 6 Laps
21 13 Ligier JS P320 6 Laps
22 19 Nicolas Maulini
United Kingdom Matthew Bell
Niklas Kruetten
Ligier JS P320 6 Laps
23 20 United States Rob Hodes
Canada Garett Grist
Charles Crews
Ligier JS P320  
24 5 Cresp Christophe
France Fabien Lavergne
Adrien Chila
Ligier JS P320 7 Laps
25 14 France Erwin Creed
Marius Zug
Mateusz Kaprzyk
Ligier JS P320 7 Laps
26 18 Alessandro Bressan
Greece Andreas Laskaratos
Italy Damiano Fioravanti
Ligier JS P320 7 Laps
27 15 Mike Benham
United Kingdom Alex Kapadia
Malthe Jakobsen
Ligier JS P320  
28 3 James McGuire
Duncan Tappy
Andrew Bentley
Ligier JS P320 8 Laps
29 55 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO 8 Laps
30 80 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO 8 Laps
31 88 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO 8 Laps
32 12 David Hauser
Gary Hauser
Tom Cloet
Duqueine M30 - D08 8 Laps
33 66 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO 8 Laps
34 60 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO 8 Laps
35 83 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO 8 Laps
36 6 Ligier JS P320 8 Laps
37 93 Porsche 911 RSR - 19  
38 95 Aston Martin Vantage AMR  
39 77 Porsche 911 RSR - 19 10 Laps
40 8 France Eric Trouillet
Sebastien Page
Switzerland David Droux
Ligier JS P320  
41 9 Ligier JS P320  
42 7 Ligier JS P320  
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